What could have been...

For those who do not know, Frederick Douglass was an ex-slave turned statesman who was at the forefront of the abolitionist movement. He also has an awesome portrait that would have rocked the $20 so hard.

It has been FOREVER since I‘ve been able to post anything on here. Due to getting to take a week off between jobs, I have some free time now to post a few random things. For starters, here’s a few moreMacho Man infused movie posters.

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Chibi papercraft 40k armies

Overthe past few months, some people started up-scaling the figure templates I used for Mini Dungeon Adventures and used them to make warhammer proxy models. Of course, being a 40k player myself, I had to get in on the action

In total, I have most of the figures from the Inquisition codex with the exception of daemonhosts, arco-flagellants and named characters while also including Inquisiorial Chimeras, Most of the sisters of battle units minus any HQs, named characters or repentia while also including Penitent Engines, Rhinos and the Excorcist missile tank, All four Imperial Assassins, Eldar Windrider jetbikes and All the Eldar Aspect warriors and their exarchs

Here’s the link tow download a zipped file with everything:

http://www.4shared.com/rar/KWp4Mwaqba/Chibi40k.html

In addition to what I’ve done, Upsilonman and Ognenny Angel have made boxy paper armies for: Space Marines, Tau, Necrons, Imperial Guard, Chaos Marines and Orks

Papercraft Tau suits for Warhammer 40k

I pasted some photos of these a while back, but I finally got around to finishing the templates for them.

The Crisis Suit Commander:

http://www.4shared.com/office/s5BpUigYba/taucommandersuit.html

Crisis Suit team:

http://www.4shared.com/office/PhEyqzO6ce/taucrisissuit.html

http://www.4shared.com/office/fgzs_7wMce/tauweapons.html

Broadsides XV88 with high-yield missile pods

http://www.4shared.com/office/RML6O_GGba/taubroadsides.html

Papercraft Mystery Skulls van

I made a papercraft model based on the Animated music video for Ghost by Mystery Skulls ( Luis Dubuc) and Mysteryben27 (Ben Magnum) . Check out the video here:

Here is the download link for the paper model:

http://www.4shared.com/office/XM0kuaLRba/mysteryvan.html

Star Wars papercraft

I made papercraft templates for a superdeformed Resistance X-Wing and First order Tie Fighter. The models are two pages each and have detailed instructions for assembly included in the PDF

http://www.4shared.com/office/4ntndOvNba/xwing.html

http://www.4shared.com/office/4KC3xkqmce/Firstordertiefighter.html

As a side note, I’m back to doing freelance work, and am accepting commissions for paper models for both commercial and personal use. AKA, if you want a paper model and it doesn’t exist I can be bribed to fix that for you.

Goodbye Terry Pratchett

I am saddened by the news that one of my all time favorite authors has passed away today. Terry Pratchet has written some amazing works of fiction which have made me smile, laugh and chuckle throughout many a quiet evening reading his literature. What I’m posting now is a work I once read by another anonymous Terry Pratchett fan when the news of his illness and approaching death first became public.

"I would like my pudding now nurse. And then I think I'd like to... write... something... I don't remember what."

Standing in the corner, he waits. The sand slowly flows, but it nears it's end. The old man still glows, as thousands of threads spread away from him.

SQUEAK.

I AGREE. IT IS A SHAME TO SEE HIM THIS WAY.

SQUEAK.

NO. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN.... BUT I CANNOT WAIT TO ASK HIM HOW IT ALL ENDS. 

The old man looks up, smiling, through them... And then sees them. For once, the smile on the hooded figure's skull is genuine. "I... I remember you. The anth... ant..." ANTHROPOMORPHIC PERSONIFICATION. "That, yes. We knew each other?" ONCE. AND WILL AGAIN. SIR? He so rarely said it, and these feelings... Remembering the young apprentice, and his beloved daughter. The beautiful child they have... "There... Is a girl, yes?" SHE IS SPEAKING TO THE AUDITORS, SIR. THEY ARE UNWILLING TO LISTEN. "Well then. You know what they say. Two things you cannot avoid. Taxes and." Those eyes, and he becomes aware. SQUEAK. "Quite right. Is it time already? I have much to do?" YOU HAVE GIVEN ALL YOU CAN SIR. "No, not cancer. Alzheimers." I AM AWARE. "So, where is the boy? I remember a boy." CARRIAGE ACCIDENT. "Ahh. Never much trusted cars. Or horses." THEY GET YOU WHERE YOU WANT TO GO. "Must I?" SOON. BUT WE MAY SIT AWHILE. SQUEAK. DO YOU HAVE ANY BISCUITS? "No, shame really." YES. "Is it truly turtles?" ALL THE WAY DOWN. I HAVE SEEN THEM. "Ahh. I would love to see it. Perhaps a small trip before?" IT WOULD BE MY PLEASURE. "The light is slower there. And there is a monkey..." ORANGUTAN. SAME PRINCIPLE. "Yes. Will they. Remember me?" SQUEAK. "What was that? I could not hear you." HE SAYS WE WILL SIR.

"I never much liked the trouble people had with you. You seem a nice fellow. I HAVE MY DAYS. "Don't we all?" SOME LESS THAN OTHERS. "Is it quick?" YES. AND I BROUGHT THE SWORD. CEREMONY DICTATES IT. "Ahh. How about a cup of tea?" I WOULD ENJOY IT. DO YOU PLAY CHESS? "No. How about checkers?" And so they sat, two old friends regaling each other. Though he could not remember all of the details, He filled him in when he needed. "Well. Until?" I WILL STAY HERE SIR. They shook hands then, and both sat in a comfortable chair, watching a last sunset together.

Machobombed movie posters

So a friend of mine has been posting lots of photoshopped pictures of the late,great wrestler Macho Man Randy Savage and I thought I'd give it a shot since I fondly remember watching wrestling in the 80s and early 90s.

A long time ago in a wrestling arena far, far away...

I need your clothes, your championship belt and your motorcycle.

Come out and get you one in the yarlbes, brother! Oooh yeah!

When it comes to smashing viruses, Macho man is the program to defend your computer grid.

It's a chainsaw AND a sword

So I got some thicker substrates to play around with on the laser and came up with this. It is a full scale (42" long) replica of a space marine chainsword with working teeth. I haven't found a decent electric motor for it yet, so for now it just operates with a crank on the hilt. The hard part was making the working gears and 58 teeth (and 116 links) mesh together and work with no parts getting snagged. Bamboo skewers were cut and inserted into the links to hold the chain together as it moves around the blade. I also used 1/8" acrylic to etch a pair of aquilas to go on either side of the blade. The whole thing weighs about six pounds. I still have to sand it down, prime it, paint it and add the leather for the handle and a purity seal somewhere.

Papercraft Tau weaponry

So now I have the plasma rifle, fusion blaster, missile pod, flamer, burst cannon and shield generator as well as a standard gun drone done in papercraft. You can see most of them in the above pic next to their plastic counterparts. Next up I have to make a few more of the support systems, then it'll be on to the Broadsides and maybe the Riptide if there's enough interest in it.

Papercraft Tau XV8 Commander

So instead of taking the time to make the weapons and upgrades for the regular crisis suit, I went ahead and did the XV8 commander suit. I still have a few minor tweaks to make before releasing the template, but its nice to be able to pose the model however I want it built without having to chop up fragile finecast resin. The official model also is leaning off of its base so it falls down if you look at it wrong.

Papercraft Tau Continued

So I added some color and built two more of the papercraft Tau Crisis suits after finishing the template. I still have to add some weapons, but I managed to build these with tiny magnets inside so once I do everything will be swap-able. It should take most people about four hours apiece to build these guys. Less if you have access to a Silhouette desktop cutter or a laser.

I like how the back looks here better than the test model, but large flat surfaces on amidst all those sharp angles doesn't look good to me so I may go back in on mine and and add extra panels for the back generator and jet thrusters but this can be done after everything else gets finished.

Papercraft Tau

Since not much has been done for papercrafting in the way of Tau stuff, I decided to remedy that. First up, the basic Crisis Suit. I still have to do the weapons and sensor array thingamajigs. The feet look like crap, but I had to make them sturdy enough for the thing to stand and not be flimsy. I made the legs a bit bigger than the source model as that gives it a more proportionate look. Another nice thing about the paper version is that you can build the arms and legs in any pose whereas the plastic kit has tightly bent arms and straight legs which limit your options.The whole thing fits on one sheet of US letter size card stock with enough room to spare to put lots of weapon options. After the weapons I'll do the Crisis Suit Commander and a Broadsides as part of the commission.

Game of Thrones parody grilling apron

Here's an apron I designed a while back when some friends started watching Game of Thrones.

Malifaux Gremlins

Here is my new set of gremlins from the Bayou Boss boxed set for the miniatures game Malifaux. First of all, this is THE most difficult box of miniatures I ever had to put together. You see each of those tiny gremlins? All of thier feet were seperate and they have tiny ankles. Somer (the guy on the left of the picture) was 15 parts. His head alone was 3 parts, not counting his hat. It seems the people that handle the creation of the parts sprues for Wyrd have an illogical fear of undercuts.

Here's the old metal version of the same crew. One thing of note is that gremlins used to have small, dog-like noses which are no longer present on the plastic kit.

While Somer looks completely different from the old kit, Lenny looks like a slight revision in scale and other minor details from his old model. Somer is posed running forward with his head slightly down and his hat over his brow so it is difficult to get a good shot showing the figure's face. The new plastic Lenny stands a whole head higher than his metal counterpart.

I do not have the aold metal Skeeter to compare these to, but from what I had seen of them the metal figures looked horrible. The plastic figures here look great but I did have a few issues building them. The antennae are mounted to the sprue by the side of one of the two antennae on each skeeter, making it almost impossible to clip the tiny thin piece of plastic without snapping it in two. It is also so thin and fragile that it is bound to break off just from normal use so I cut mine off and drilled holes to insert thin metal wires to replace them. They also suffer from being bigger than the bases they came with so I used more of the wire to have them suspended flying over them.

I had pre-ordered this box more than two months in advance and it was delayed multiple times. It was nice that they included an extra limited edition figure in the boxes when they finally shipped out. Johanna here was a piece of cake to assemble and paint.

I also finally got around to finishing up my Gremlin Taxidermist. He's gotten better since the new crossroads book re-introduced him to the game. You can turn any corpse marker near him into a stuffed piglet, which is great for gunlines using a pigapult behind them. When one of your guys drops, you get a pig full of dynamite to chuck across the board at the enemy.

And the Nightmare edition Whiskey Golem. This guy is huge-huge-huge. He has most of a crew's worth of gremlins just hanging about him like a walking playground full of booze.

Somebody mark that gremlin up for sleepin' on the job!

Articulated Wraithknight

So I got a second comission to build a wraithlord for someone and I decided to give it as much articulation as I could.

The shoulders and elbows are double-jointed using ball joints from an old stikfas figure. The hads and weapons are pinned to be swappable/rotatable.

The legs were the hardest part since the joints had to be tight enough to support the figure's weight while still being able to be repositioned. I ended up using a piece of rounded sprue that fits perfectly inside a styrene rod. Each knee segment was drilled out at the top and bottom points of rotation with the styrene rod inserted. The pin was then inserted into the knee and glued to either side of the upper shins and lower thighs before drilling all the way through and inserting a metal pin. The armor segments around the thigh and knee had to be severely shaved back to allow for anything other than the most basic movement. The feet are pinned in multiple places with thick copper wire connecting each joint (lower shin, heel & toe) enabling it to be moved with a bit of force, then retain the pose.

More Malifaux Minis

Since M2E promoted Wong from a henchman to a master, I decided to pick up him and his buddy Burt Jebsen up for my gremlin crews. Unlike the nightmare that was the new Somer box, these guys were a breeze to assemble and didn't have that many parts.

I need to work on my blending some as the photos reveal my shading to be quite blocky when viewed with a good camera. I attempted to freehand the piggies and stars pattern from the box art on Wong's hat, but didn't care to add it to the robe (I might go back and try later) as well as an attempt at Jack Burton's T-shirt design from Big Trouble in Little China on Burt Jebsen. I didn't put too much effort into Burt's gun as I will probably remove it later for something more closely resembling a TEC-9